Steam removed Amex as a payment option?

[Silent Storm]

How cheap is Valve? They removed American Express from payment options, (In Canada at least) to make more money. They already charge huge fees for developers selling on their platform, they take Steam tax fees on all community trades. They will lose a good bit of my purchases now, I won't be spending as much money buying games I don't need anymore, I guess that's good for me though...

[Crazy]

Same for me!

[SeanGil]

Still no amex payment for out of US countries

i haven't bought a single thing on steam since.

to the ppl saying steam don't need amex because they charge more, here what happened in the time since they cancelled amex as paying method-

i have attempted (and failed) to buy from SWTOR website
i have new Epic Game account
i have a new Origin account
i have bought a complete edition of FFXIV (which is available on Steam as well btw) from square enix website.
i have checked a couple of times if i can use Amex on steam purchases which i couldn't.

steam lost a lot of money and sent me looking for other platform buy cancelling my credit card.
i guess i should be thankful they saved me some of that money buy not letting me pay

also amex takes more % from the shop while Paypal takes from the buyer.

so instead of Valve paying up to 3.5% more then then do for other companies - in order to reach a wider costumer crowd worldwide, i now need to pay 5% extra on all my purchases for the currency conversion alone if i use paypal.

support sent me to buy giftcards in shop not in my country, when i said they are not available in my country (which im guessing they can see for themselves) they told me to change paying method - - - > not going to get a new credit card for valves sake sorry, nor am i going to pay extra 5% on paypal so they get more money.


cheers valve. can't even open CS:GO new boxes.

[octyc]

引用自 Aahzmandias：

引用自 WolfEisberg：

Amex charges up to 3.5% the same amount that Paypal charges. Valve can easily pay that 3.5% in their 30% they take.

Why should they? What is their advantage to accept that penalty?

Right. There is no advantage for them.

People can just use PayPal, or any other payment method and be done with it. Even Steam cards exist, that you can buy and use.

Steam invented and distributed their own payment system! They do not need credit cards and their additional fees.

It's not just that Steam does not need credit cards. They need the credit card's customers. Me for instance I've been making purchases on Steam for 20 years using my AMEX. Since they ditched, I made almost zero purchases, and I am inclined not to make others as often. So Steam gets much less money from me and others so they do not lose out just the AMEX commissions. And I am sure I am not alone since there are other countries outside of the US that use AMEX. I've tried using paypal with AMEX but after the first purchase something went wrong and still does not go through.

[octyc]

引用自 fluxtorrent：

引用自 Silent Storm：

Are you trying to defend valve, saying they aren't being greedy from this move?

I'm pointing out your statement is incorrect. Are you trying to defend AMEX by saying they aren't greedy with their business practices?

One of the two companies is successful throughout the world, one is only a major player in the US, for very good reasons

As far as I know VISA and Mastercard are credit card companies relying on banks, while AMEX does its thing directly, thus incurring more costs. A similar comparison would be the prices at a walk-in store in a mall versus an online store.

[Darkslayer16]

引用自 octyc：

引用自 Aahzmandias：

Why should they? What is their advantage to accept that penalty?

Right. There is no advantage for them.

People can just use PayPal, or any other payment method and be done with it. Even Steam cards exist, that you can buy and use.

Steam invented and distributed their own payment system! They do not need credit cards and their additional fees.

It's not just that Steam does not need credit cards. They need the credit card's customers. Me for instance I've been making purchases on Steam for 20 years using my AMEX. Since they ditched, I made almost zero purchases, and I am inclined not to make others as often. So Steam gets much less money from me and others so they do not lose out just the AMEX commissions. And I am sure I am not alone since there are other countries outside of the US that use AMEX. I've tried using paypal with AMEX but after the first purchase something went wrong and still does not go through.

People that act like they spend a lot of money typically don't actually spend much so i doubt they care. Its not their fault you have a pos AMEX. lots of places dont take them because their stupid fees. Its not on the business to pay more because you support a greedy company.

[octyc]

引用自 Darkslayer16：

引用自 octyc：

It's not just that Steam does not need credit cards. They need the credit card's customers. Me for instance I've been making purchases on Steam for 20 years using my AMEX. Since they ditched, I made almost zero purchases, and I am inclined not to make others as often. So Steam gets much less money from me and others so they do not lose out just the AMEX commissions. And I am sure I am not alone since there are other countries outside of the US that use AMEX. I've tried using paypal with AMEX but after the first purchase something went wrong and still does not go through.

People that act like they spend a lot of money typically don't actually spend much so i doubt they care. Its not their fault you have a pos AMEX. lots of places dont take them because their stupid fees. Its not on the business to pay more because you support a greedy company.

You probably live in an Euro area country or the US if you have these opinions. Sometimes purchasing outside of these areas woud incurr in large exchange fees. It's not supporting a greedy company or not, but everyone is entitled to their opinion. When travelling usually AMEX cards are accepted in many places, just like the other providers. You contradict yourself when you imply that people with other cards spend more than others. Personally I have also VISA and Mastercard debit cards but I avoid using them since they give me no benefits. Credit card is not debit card. Anyone can choose any payment means they want. I don't judge.

[AmsterdamHeavy]

AmEx users have always known that their cards are not accepted everywhere and that when "hard times" come, more businesses stop using them...because they are the most expensive CC to deal with.\

This is nothing new.

[On Vacation]

I don't really blame them. AmEx provides great rewards (depending on the card) and customer service for it's customer base, but for the merchant they result in higher fee's. The general idea behind accepting AmEx is that the cardholders tend to be more affluent and spend more money on average than Visa and Mastercard holders. Though this gap is not nearly as large as it use to be.

It also doesn't hold true for all industries in general and outside of the US, AmEx isn't nearly as popular, so I would imagine Valve doesn't feel what AmEx brings to the table is equitable with the fee's they charge. I get it though, you want to use the card that gives back to you the most so the frustration makes sense, but it has to make sense for Valve too.

[SeanGil]

引用自 Darkslayer16：

引用自 octyc：

It's not just that Steam does not need credit cards. They need the credit card's customers. Me for instance I've been making purchases on Steam for 20 years using my AMEX. Since they ditched, I made almost zero purchases, and I am inclined not to make others as often. So Steam gets much less money from me and others so they do not lose out just the AMEX commissions. And I am sure I am not alone since there are other countries outside of the US that use AMEX. I've tried using paypal with AMEX but after the first purchase something went wrong and still does not go through.

People that act like they spend a lot of money typically don't actually spend much so i doubt they care. Its not their fault you have a pos AMEX. lots of places dont take them because their stupid fees. Its not on the business to pay more because you support a greedy company.

yea its AMEX being greedy.... lol
you do know the solution for users to use Paypal means the USERS will have to pay extra 5% commission on the currnecy exchange.

how is that compared to the + 2-3% steam had to pay AMEX ?

so i would suggest you research abit before deciding which side is the greedy one.

i stopped buying on steam because well - i can't
and yes they have "saved" me a lot of money, say what you will, i spent a very nice amount of money every month on games and in-game purchases like SWTOR coins or CSGO box keys
also some games i wanted to buy were at the time 25-30$ even after a small discount. and not they are around 5$ after discount.

the solution for me was to download other platforms which i was completely against doing before, found out epic games has some nice "free games" every now and then.

also found out for FFVIX - game + all DLCs + monthly sub costs alot less then here on steam.

so maybe its not their fault we have AMEX, but it's their responsibility to make their service accessable to the largest audience - having ppl who want to buy you services but being denied for a few extra % on every purchase is just bad bussiness since you are sending them to look for replacements for you which are avialable and offer the service you denied.
moreover so if they allowed it for YEARS and then took it away.

saying "buy physical gift card instead, oh they are not available on your country? yea go get a new credit card then", thats not a solution, niether is "go pay the commision yourself".

its too bad they are not doing anything to overcome this.

[strata]

Just a major correction: AMEX is one of the most valuable companies and brands in the world, far more valuable than Steam. There are good reasons it's one of the anchor companies of the Dow, and in the Stock Exchange S&P 500. And just in terms of revenue, it makes several magnitudes more than Steam -- AMEX made around 50 billion last year. Steam makes close to 10 billion revenue (in a good year)

For more info, check out the AMEX Wikipedia entry.

[JVC]

引用自 strata：

Just a major correction: AMEX is one of the most valuable companies and brands in the world, far more valuable than Steam. There are good reasons it's one of the anchor companies of the Dow, and in the Stock Exchange S&P 500. And just in terms of revenue, it makes several magnitudes more than Steam -- AMEX made around 50 billion last year. Steam makes close to 10 billion revenue (in a good year)

For more info, check out the AMEX Wikipedia entry.

What their value is on the stock market is irrelevant. And no, in many countries outside of the US that brand is garbage because stores won't accept it.

Accepting AMEX is more expensive for the store than accepting other payment options. And when you can't pass on that cost to the consumer it's a bad business transaction to accept them.

Management economics 101.

[SeanGil]

引用自 JVC：

引用自 strata：

Just a major correction: AMEX is one of the most valuable companies and brands in the world, far more valuable than Steam. There are good reasons it's one of the anchor companies of the Dow, and in the Stock Exchange S&P 500. And just in terms of revenue, it makes several magnitudes more than Steam -- AMEX made around 50 billion last year. Steam makes close to 10 billion revenue (in a good year)

For more info, check out the AMEX Wikipedia entry.

What their value is on the stock market is irrelevant. And no, in many countries outside of the US that brand is garbage because stores won't accept it.

Accepting AMEX is more expensive for the store than accepting other payment options. And when you can't pass on that cost to the consumer it's a bad business transaction to accept them.

Management economics 101.

thats not management 101.
management 101 would be to check future projections of earnings from AMEX and see if its worth it to your bussiness, and if it does, you lower your ego pay a bit more and earn more.
for a bussiness like steam it shouldnt be to hard to pay that extra instead of sending their costumers to pay extra comission (on paypal). which i won't.
they also didn't stop use for AMEX they stopped it for everywhere outside of US.

[wRe]

so, if i live in switzerland and only have a amex credit card, i like just cant use it?

[Chika Ogiue]

引用自 wRe：

so, if i live in switzerland and only have a amex credit card, i like just cant use it?

if it isn't offered as a payment option for your Steam store region, you cannot use it.

[oNe | Peasant Destroyer]

I just buy steam cards with my Amex, that way I still get my abundance of points via Amex. Problem solved. The best credit card I’ve ever had is Amex because of their amazing points.